


A Gift of the Gods

by within_a_dream



Category: The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Changelings, Gen, Tricky Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 15:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2473712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eugenides knew better than to ask for help from the gods, as one never knew what sort of aid they would decide to give. But his son was dying, and he was desperate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gift of the Gods

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).



> I was so excited to find someone in the Queen's Thief fandom whose interests overlapped so well with mine, and I had a lot of fun trying to combine changelings with this universe.

The first thing Eugenides thought when he heard the news was that he knew his son shouldn’t have had horsemanship lessons. The second was that he’d never be able to forgive himself for not stopping this somehow. The third wasn’t much of a thought of all, just a wordless scream inside his head.

He would have spent the next month at his son’s bedside, had he been able. As it was, he resented every duty that tore him away. There was something terrible about a world where a fall from a horse could leave a child pale and silent, unable to wake. If Eugenides hadn’t known better, he would have cursed the gods for allowing it. Even though he knew better, he still begged them for Theodoros’s return, every day. Weeks later, when he’d given up hope that he’d ever hear his son speak again, the doctor burst into a meeting of the court, and Eugenides feared the worst.

“He’s woken up,” the man said instead. It took Eugenides a moment to remember how to breathe, and another to remember how to walk. With that, he ran, court be damned. He knew the fastest routes through the palace, but it still seemed to take an eternity to reach the bedroom. When he arrived at the door, he couldn’t bring himself to open it, for fear that this had been some cruel joke. Eugenides turned the handle slowly, and crept inside. He couldn’t keep himself from grinning when he saw his son, alive and awake. The boy looked up at him and smiled, and Eugenides’s heart stopped.

~~~

“He’s not the same, Irene.”

The queen laid a hand on his knee. “It’s only natural that he’s changed, Eugenides. He was ill for a long time.”

He shook his head. “His smile.” When she didn’t say anything, he went on. “He never smiled, before. He took after you that way.”

“I smiled as a child, when I had cause to.”

He remembered a young girl dancing under the orange trees, and nodded. “Theodoros didn’t. And now, when he does, it’s wrong.”

“What would you do, then? Disown your only heir because his smile is strange?” When he didn’t answer, she pressed on. “Should we have him arrested, for impersonating the prince? Shall I call the executioner?”

“You know that’s not what I want.”

“Then what should be done?”

He didn’t have an answer. That night, as he laid down to sleep, he could see the boy’s smile, crooked and forced.

~~~

The next day, he made a sacrifice at the temple, and knelt in silence until he felt a rush of air in front of him.

“What have you done with my child?”

Moira put a hand on his shoulder. “Stand, Eugenides.”

“What have you done?”

They stood silent for a long while, she as impassive as a statue, he struggling to control himself.

“Would you rather have him dead, or changed?”

“I would have my son back.”

Moira looked at him with something almost like sadness in her eyes. “That was never an option.”

Between one breath and the next, she was gone. As Eugenides turned to leave, he saw a small figure in the doorway.

“I can stop smiling if it would please you, Father.”

The boy looked fragile, dwarfed by the arch of the doorway and wearing only a too-big nightshirt that barely clung to his shoulders.

“As your mother reminded me today, children are meant to smile.” Eugenides knelt, and the boy crept into his arms. Eugenides felt him shake, and wondered how much he knew of what had happened. “Would you like to go for a walk?”

The boy nodded. The crooked smile crept across his face, then disappeared as he glanced at Eugenides, who cursed the moment he’d voiced his suspicions.

“Follow me, then.”

He clambered onto the roof much more fearlessly than Eugenides would have expected, and as he looked out across the parapet to the ground below, his grin held.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

He nodded and gestured outwards. “Is that the river?”

“Keen eye, Theo.”

He seemed startled, though by the praise or something else, Eugenides couldn’t say. He thought again of how small Theodoros had looked framed by the temple doorway, promising not to smile anymore.

“Would you like to hear a story?”

Theo nodded.

“Not so long ago, in a land not so far from here, there lived a queen and her king. They were deeply in love, but they wanted a child. After years of waiting, the gods blessed them with a son. The king wanted to name him Irenaeus, after his mother, but she refused. Together, they decided on Theodoros, as he was a gift from the gods.

“The prince was quiet like his father and solemn like his mother, and they both loved him more than they could say. One day, there was an accident. The doctor said the prince would never recover, but his father never lost hope.

“But when the boy did recover, he was different, and the king thought it a curse. He didn’t realize what a priceless gift he had been given, that even if the child who had been returned to him wasn’t the boy he’d lost, he was still…a miracle. He was still the king’s child.”

Theodoros leaned closer to him, and they looked out over the city together in silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Additional warnings: this story focuses on the death of a child (more or less). Readers should also approach with caution if they have triggers related to emotional abuse of a child.


End file.
